


May Tevura Guide Your Travels

by Inquartata (mackillian)



Category: Mass Effect - All Media Types, Mass Effect: Andromeda
Genre: F/F, Fluff and Angst, Humor, THERE WAS ONLY ONE BED
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-05
Updated: 2019-03-05
Packaged: 2019-11-12 05:39:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,974
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18004871
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mackillian/pseuds/Inquartata
Summary: Cora and Janae have things to discuss. Nisira and the rest of Talein's Daughters arrange for them to finally have that discussion.





	May Tevura Guide Your Travels

**Author's Note:**

  * For [skyllianhamster](https://archiveofourown.org/users/skyllianhamster/gifts).



“I think you’re being overly critical of Serrice,” said Janae, elbows on the desk and shoulders tight, the training area for Talein’s Daughters in the background.

Cora stared at her over the vidcall. “Are you serious right now? You _asked_ for my opinion about their defensive line and I gave it.”

Nisira entered the room and then halted right behind Janae, eyebrow raised.

Focused on Cora, Janae didn’t acknowledge Nisira’s appearance. “You didn’t have to say it like Serrice should give up—”

“That isn’t what I said.”

“—before the season even starts because that’s how terrible—”

“I never said they—”

“This is unlike both of you,” said Nisira, moving to stand next to the seated Janae and delivering them both admonishing looks. “And it’s the last thing you need with mere months remaining until the Initiative departs the Milky Way. You should be enjoying what time you have left together, not sniping at each other over… what was it?”

“Serrice’s defensive line this season,” said Cora.

“Which Cora thinks stands no chance against any of the other teams,” said Janae.

“That isn’t—”

“Obviously,” said Nisira, “messages, letters, and the odd vidcalls aren’t cutting it for you and it’s making you waste time neither of you have.”

Behind Nisira and Janae, Kalia and Valenza, dressed in training gear, walked into the room. They, too, stopped right behind Janae when they saw Cora on the other end of the vidcall.

“Is our other baby commando coming back?” Kalia asked as she waved at Cora.

Janae crossed her arms and slouched in her chair. “No, she’s still going to Andromeda.”

Valenza tilted her head slightly, eyes flicking back and forth between Cora and Janae. “Are you fighting?”

“No!” said Janae.

“Of course not,” said Cora.

A laugh came from the part of the room Cora couldn’t see. Then the four asari Cora _could_ see looked to their left.

“They were fighting,” came the off screen answer from Tethys.

“I didn’t even know you were there,” said Janae.

“Because it didn’t matter that I was,” said Tethys. “Up until you were lying out loud to yourselves _and_ everyone else.”

“Anything else you have to say about the situation?” asked Kalia.

“No, I’m done.”

“I think our baby commandos need to take a vacation,” said Valenza. “Together. And hopefully not fight over dumb things. I’ll throw in some credits.”

“A sightseeing trip would be nice,” said Kalia. “I can donate some credits, too.”

“Wouldn’t even need to be far,” said Nisira. “Plenty to to sightsee in this system. I’m even willing to pitch in some credits along with giving Janae a few days’ leave.”

Even Tethys volunteered credits.

Nisira nodded and turned to Cora and Janae. “There. Plenty for you two to go on a little vacation. _Together_.”

The way she said it and then glared at both of them, daring them to disagree, made it clear they were to go whether they liked it or not.

Which was how Cora and Janae had ended up traveling together in a small shuttle on a route from Thessia to Athame, a hydrogen-helium planet on the outer edge of the system, between Tevura and Janiri. Their conversation so far had been stilted enough for Cora to wish it was nonexistent.

Awkward had never been a thing between them before. Arguing about nothing had been better.

“Nisira said that the rings of Athame are a must-see if you’re visiting the Parnitha System,” said Janae. But she didn’t look up from the instrument panel in front of the pilot’s seat.

Cora glanced over but quickly returned to looking out the viewport next to the co-pilot’s seat. “She never said anything about them before. You don’t think that’s weird?”

Janae’s statement came out soft, yet it sliced with the savagery of countless cuts. “You weren’t planning on leaving the galaxy before.”

Cora had thought she and Janae had reached an accord regarding Cora’s choice to join the Andromeda Initiative. Their communications over the past month had slowly scrubbed away _that_ misconception. Their argument over _skyball_ , of all things, had been the end result.

And Cora still didn’t know what to say. She’d told Janae that no one in the Milky Way needed her and the Andromeda Initiative _did_. So Janae had asked, _“What if I say I needed you? Or the Daughters needed you?”_ Cora had answered that, too—the Daughters didn’t need someone who wouldn’t live long enough to become a true huntress.

Then Cora realized that she hadn’t said anything addressing the possibility of _Janae_ saying she needed her. But Janae hadn’t said she did, nor did Cora know what her answer would’ve been, nor did she know even now. It seemed like an important thing to—

A warning light on the panel blinked a harsh red, accompanied by a shrill alarm set to tones audible—and irritating—to every space-faring galactic species. Low fuel.

Cora tapped in several commands. Not just low, but the equivalent of fumes. What the hell? “Did you not check the fuel reserves?”

“Of course I checked the fuel reserves!”

“You’re _sure_?”

Janae shifted her dark glare from the panel to Cora. “Even non-spacers know to check something that basic.”

“The shuttle’s engine is operating under the assumption that we’re about to run out of fuel,” said Cora.

“I _know_.” Janae returned her attention to the panel, entered a few commands, and a map overlay appeared on the window. “We have enough fuel to make it to one of Piares’ moons, but we’ll have to coast a little at the end.”

“You can do it,” said Cora. Things awkward between them or not, she trusted Janae to pilot them safely through a descent onto a lifeless grey moon.

It was a trust well-placed.

The shuttle coasted to a safe landing on a rocky outcropping. After all movement ceased, Janae shut down all non-essential systems and then craned her neck to peek out the window, which revealed a barren plain with mustard brown Piares hanging above. “Welcome to Aithas,” said Janae. “No oxygen and no water, but she’s got plenty of dust, wind, and a high temperature of a balmy negative seventy degrees.”

“We’re alive. There’s that.” Cora unbuckled her harness and went aft. There were emergency supplies to inventory and she needed to double check the head to make sure _it_ was still functioning because they might be here for hours. “Did you set the distress signal?”

“I did. Still waiting for an acknowledgement ping. There aren’t any ships in the immediate vicinity.”

“Reassuring.” The head was in perfect working condition, so there was one worry put to bed. “I take it we aren’t going outside for a walk?”

“Not unless you like being frozen. It’s going to get chilly in here as it is.” Janae dimmed the window and squeezed between the two seats to join Cora in the cramped interior. “I was actually kind of looking forward to seeing the rings of Athame.”

“Didn’t you grow up on Thessia? Seems like a field trip kind of thing for kids.”

“I guess when you’re close to things you can end up taking them for granted.”

To Cora, Janae had sounded wistful and she didn’t know what to make of it. So she left it alone and opened the supply locker to find a standard medkit, water, and plenty of emergency rations. However, there was only one sleeping pad and one blanket. Damn. When they got back, she’d have to read Kalia the riot act because she’d done that part of the pre-flight check and had reported sufficient supplies for their trip. Sure, they could share the blanket if they got stuck here long enough, but they’d fight over it.

“How’s it look?” Janae asked from behind her.

“Enough food and water for days, if necessary.” She turned and leaned against the bulkhead next to the locker. “How long are we going to be here?”

“I’m not sure. There really isn’t much traffic around Piares since there’s, well, nothing there. The mines have been shut down for centuries. Could be a day or two, depending.”

“So we aren’t going to languish here and die?”

“Of course not. Why would you even ask?”

Cora gestured vaguely above them. “Piares? Asari goddess of death? Seems like a bad omen to me.”

“Goddess, Cora.” Janae rolled her eyes and then threw herself onto one of the four jumpseats. “Piares isn’t a doom and gloom kind of goddess. She guided asari spirits to wherever they were meant to go on their last journey. Myth even says she could give an asari who’d lost her lover the ability to bring them back to life in another body.”

Cora crossed her arms, doing best to not look skeptical. “Wasn’t that the premise of _Nekyia Corridor_?”

“You _watched_ that simstim? Cora! It was terrible!”

“Did _you_ watch it? I’ve only heard random reviews, unwillingly, while stuck in an elevator, on four separate occasions.”

“Valenza said we were all going. Would you have argued with Valenza?”

“No. It’s ultimately a waste of time to argue with her.” Cora smiled a bit. “How bad was it?”

“ _So_ bad. I have no idea how it raked in that many credits.”

Cora abandoned the locker and took the jumpseat directly across from Janae. “Must be a lot of people like Valenza around.”

Janae jumped up and went to the locker, pulling the ration crate out. “This isn’t Athame’s Window with the spectacular view, but would you still like to have the dinner date Nisira volunteered us to go on? I suppose we could unfilter the windows for a nice view of… windy grey dust with a sphere of brownish-yellow soup in the sky.”

“The view in here is better either way.”

Only when Janae froze, crate in her arms, to look at Cora in surprise did Cora realize what she’d said and how it could be taken.

“I mean, your company is what matters.”

A blush rose to Janae’s cheeks and she quickly began rifling through the ration pack choices.

Cora ran a hand over her face. God, she hadn’t meant it that way.

Or maybe she had? What she’d said had been the truth. It hadn’t been the rings of Athame she’d been looking forward to, awkwardness or not. It’d been spending time with Janae. Time they were growing short on and her stomach twisted when she thought about when there wouldn’t be anymore time with her. Cora had chosen to go to Andromeda and she was content with every aspect of her decision except… except where Janae was concerned. “So,” she said, at a loss for what to say, “what’s our menu for tonight?”

After another moment, Janae answered in a voice almost steady, “Asari Republics Navy menus eight, nineteen, twenty, and twenty-two, and then the same over again with eezo restriction. Oh, wait, I found a twenty-four.” She handed it to Cora. “Your favorite.”

Cora’s smile was reflexive and genuine and for some reason when they made eye contact they both quickly looked away, Cora’s own cheeks a touch warm.

The awkwardness didn’t improve from there as they ate rations that actually tasted pretty good, which had been a pleasant surprise for Alliance-trained Cora the first time she’d tried Republics Navy rations. But eventually the rustle of packaging and the rising wind outside weren’t enough of a distraction. Nisira was right. Cora didn’t have enough time left with Janae as it was and she didn’t want to spend it like this—sitting in awkward silence when what really mattered was being with Janae.

“What confuses me,” Cora said, the sudden statement making Janae jump, “is that you don’t even care that much about Serrice. Because ‘I’m from Kurinthia and we don’t do the city team rivalry thing because it’s stupid and everyone should just enjoy skyball.’ You said that.”

“I did,” Janae said, her tone neutral. She didn’t look up from the napkin she was in the middle of tearing to shreds.

“So why—”

“I don’t know why.” It came out sharp, a double-edged sword cutting them both. The pieces of paper fell to the discarded packaging and Janae looked up with troubled eyes that softened the rest of what she had to say. “Just drop it, okay?”

Cora let it go, their time dwindling away.

Janae cleaned up the remains of their dinner and then made a show of shivering. “I’m going to get the blanket and the sleeping pad out because I’m cold and it’s late anyway. Any objections?”

“No.” Though Cora didn’t think it was _that_ cold, she refrained from her usual teasing.

But when Janae unfolded the blanket, a datapad that had been tucked inside clattered onto the shuttle’s deck.

“This isn’t standard,” Cora said as she picked it up and activated it. “Kalia’s the one who checked the emergency supplies. Must be hers. Since she left out the second sleeping pad and blanket, I think I’ll be keeping it. It’s her fault we’re going to be cold.”

“It’s _already_ cold.” Janae, blanket out on the sleeping pad, hugged herself and hopped in place a couple times. “So what’s on it? Anything we can use to get even with Kalia?”

“It’s a note,” said Cora. “From Nisira.”

Frowning, Janae moved to stand next to Cora so they could both read it.

> You’ll be there for a day, you’ve supplies, and the two of you have things to discuss. Feel free to do so.
> 
> —Mama Nisi

“Goddess,” said Janae, “the rest of the squad signed it, too. I _knew_ Nisira giving me family leave to see you when you were in the hospital would get them going again.” Then she scowled at the lonely sleeping pad. “They think they know everything, but they don’t. So I’m not going to go along with whatever it is they had in mind. I’m cold and tired and going to bed.”

Still having no idea what to make of the letter and their situation and the fact that Nisira and the squad had _arranged_ this, Cora carefully looked up from the datapad. “I can sleep on one of the jumpseats. I tolerate the cold better than you do.”

“What? Cora, no. Don’t be ridiculous. We can share. We’re adults. We have an understanding. We’ll be perfectly fine overnight and, tomorrow, when Nisira gets here, we’ll let her have it.”

Sharing a sleeping pad was one thing, but sharing it with Janae _and_ the dogged unspoken issue stealing their time together was crowded and difficult to the point of unbearable. But they’d done this before. Shared a bunk. Shared a blanket. Fought over a blanket. Gotten scolded by Nisira for fighting over the blanket even though it’d been a silent tug-of-war.

_This shouldn’t be a problem._ Cora repeated the statement to herself several times as she and Janae laid beneath the single blanket, Cora the big spoon because ‘humans are more resilient against cold,’ bodies as close as possible because it _was_ getting cold, even for Cora.

Yet, Cora was hyperaware of each and every place where Janae pressed against her.

She couldn’t sleep and it wasn’t the fault of the occasional howl from the unrelenting wind outside. Her mind wouldn’t shut down, preoccupied with the final conversations she and Janae had shared on Tamayo Point, preoccupied with her heartbeat refusing to settle because her mind kept reminding her of each point of warm contact between her and Janae.

And things Janae had said.

“ _How much time you have doesn’t matter, when you really care about someone, if you make the most of it_.”

But they weren’t. They were letting a formless shadow drain what little they had left.

Janae wasn’t sleeping either. Cora had slept next to her or nearby often enough to know the pattern of Janae’s breathing when she was truly asleep. That and she could also feel the same tension in Janae’s body that she felt in her own.

_“What if I say I need you? The Daughters need you?”_

Then Cora gave up on dropping the issue because dodging it wasn’t worth their time. “On Tamayo Point,” she said, piercing the silence, “the only answer I gave you for your hypothetical questions was about the Daughters. You never called me out on the other.”

It took Janae a while to answer, time marked in a space of steady breaths between the occasional ping of a wind-blown pebble impacting the hull. “I know. I realized…” She let out a shaky breath. “It wouldn’t have been fair for me to ask you that, so I didn’t.”

Cora frowned and lifted her head, the backup systems lighting leaving the cabin tinged red. “How would it not be fair?”

“You told me that the Initiative needs you and that you want to help them. Asking my other question would’ve put pressure on you to go back on what you’d decided.”

“I can make my own choices.”

“I know. Of course you can. And do. But that doesn’t change the fact that those types of questions do exert some influence on decisions and I wasn’t going to do that to you.”

Cora let the statement settle for a while.

Then she asked, “Is it the truth? Or was it really just hypothetical?”

“Is what?”

She lifted her head from where she’d rested it on Janae’s shoulder. “Do you need me to stay?”

There was another long pause. “I don’t need you to stay.”

As she placed her head on the sleeping pad, Cora wondered how truths could sound like lies, because Janae wasn’t someone to lie. She’d either tell you the truth even if it hurt or she’d change the subject. Janae hadn’t done either, but what she’d said had sounded like a big damn lie.

In the quiet, Cora remained exquisitely aware of Janae’s presence as her thoughts churned. Then it hit her.

Janae _hadn’t_ lied.

The problem was in the question Cora had asked—it hadn’t been specific enough. So she tried again. “Do you need _me_?”

Janae went absolutely still. Her voice was thready when she finally said, “Please don’t make me answer.”

Then Cora saw the image of Janae on the docking platform at Tamayo Point, fading to nothing as Cora’s shuttle departed the station. Felt the tightness in her chest when she couldn’t bear to look away as long as Janae was visible, no matter how small the blue speck, because she hadn’t wanted to say goodbye. Felt the flutter in her heart when she realized she was looking at Janae now, with no distance between them.

Because she couldn’t figure out what to say that could get past the lump in her throat, she stayed silent.

“I don’t know if ‘need’ is the right word,” said Janae. “‘Want’ might cover it better.”

Cora couldn’t help it. She laughed. “You made the want pretty clear a while back.” As had happened on several occasions over the past weeks, she felt a twinge of regret for having rejected Janae’s advances. She’d rejected them because while asari had no concept of fraternization like the Alliance did—even the term itself made no sense to them—Cora hadn’t been able to shake that ingrained response against getting involved with a squadmate.

But Janae wasn’t her squadmate anymore. And there was still some time left.

“Yes, well, you kindly and politely turned me down,” said Janae. “Heartbroken, I soldiered on. But that isn’t what I was talking about. More ‘I don’t need you but I’d _like_ you…’ No, that doesn’t work either.” She sighed and rolled over to face Cora. “I don’t need you in my life but I’d really like it if you were.” Then she combed her fingers through Cora’s hair once before letting her hand fall onto Cora’s shoulder. “Saying it wouldn’t have been fair to you.”

“So you picked a fight over Serrice instead?” Cora asked, apprehension easing out in a relieved smile.

“Well, when you put it that way…” Janae laughed. “I suppose I did.”

“That isn’t making the most of what time we have left together.”

“Which is how we ended up frustrating each other, Nisira, and our squad. _And_ how we ended up in this specific situation in the first place.” She sighed and pressed her forehead to Cora’s.

To Cora, the touch burned like every place their bodies touched. She tried to release the tension by letting her biotic field rise to mesh with Janae’s, as easily as they always had. But even that felt different, tingling through her nervous system in pleasant ways it never had before.

Cora decided to make the most of it. She cupped Janae’s chin with her hand and then kissed her. Janae’s lips were a little dry and slack in surprise, but it didn’t take long for her to respond in kind, the fingers on Cora’s shoulder digging in and tugging her closer. Cora let her eyes flutter shut.

Then Janae’s hand flew open and she pushed herself away.

Heart dropping, Cora opened her eyes. Shit, had she misjudged? “What’s wrong? I thought you—”

“Unless it’s what you want and _not_ out of some kind of guilt for leaving,” Janae said, eye contact unwavering in her seriousness, “I’m not doing anything like this.”

“It isn’t guilt.” Cora’s body relaxed. She hadn’t been wrong. “It’s realizing that when you really care about someone, you want to make the most of what time you have together.”

“You,” said Janae, tracing the slope of Cora’s nose like she wanted to be her playful self but was regretful instead, “turned me down.”

“Because you were a squadmate and I couldn’t get over my Alliance bias.”

Janae’s eyes flicked upward to meet Cora’s. “It wasn’t because you weren’t—”

“The interest was there. The attraction was there. It always was. But my Alliance training meant I had my fun on shore leave and not with anyone from my squad.”

“I’m not on your squad anymore.”

“No, you’re not,” Cora said against Janae’s lips.

This time, Janae returned the kiss with enough eagerness to bring her body on top of Cora’s, neither pushing the other away. Not when they were pulling each other closer. Not when they had to make up for lost time.

The cold didn’t bother them for the rest of the night.

In the morning, they were awakened by someone banging on the shuttle’s hull and comm notifications flashing and buzzing on both of their omni-tools. Then whoever was on the other end gave up and overrode the silent protocol.

Nisira’s voice came through. _“Did you two sort things out or am I leaving you in there another day?”_

“You wouldn’t,” said Janae, not bothering to emerge from beneath the blanket.

_“I would, easily. Besides, if you’d_ really _wanted to leave, you would’ve dug a little deeper into the system status reports and noticed that you have plenty of fuel.”_

“No,” Cora said as she sat up and tried to figure out where her shirt had ended up.

_“Yes.”_

Janae, still wrapped up in the blanket, shuffled through several levels of status reports on her omni. Then she paled. “You have to be _kidding_ me.”

Friendly laughter broke out on the comm channel. Not just from Nisira, but Cora could identify the laughs of each member of Talein’s Daughters and that brought a smile to her face.

After they’d retrieved the emergency hardsuits from the shuttle’s storage lockers, Cora stopped and studied Janae. She didn’t want their time to be over.

Helmet in hand, Janae turned and raised an eyebrow.

Cora said, “Come with me to Andromeda.”

Janae’s eyes sparkled with the same brilliance as her sudden, dazzling smile.

And when she kissed Cora with enough enthusiasm to shove her against a bulkhead, Cora decided the rest of the squad could wait outside a little longer.


End file.
